Three years had passed in the human world. Three eternities in the Void.
Azathoth materialized on the cold, black stone of the Nexus Realm. He looked down and smiled. The Star Eater was relentlessly whipping a ten-year-old Serena. The girl's body was a canvas of deep, overlapping scars, fresh wounds, and dark bruises.
"Enough," Azathoth commanded.
The Star Eater immediately stopped, stepping back into the shadows.
Azathoth walked slowly around the bleeding girl, who was kneeling on the hard stone. "What are you?"
"A bad product," Serena answered. Her voice was flat, mechanical, and entirely devoid of life.
"What are you?" Azathoth repeated, his voice echoing.
"A bad product."
"What are you?!" Azathoth shouted.
"A bad product!" Serena yelled back, staring blankly at the floor.
"When a product gets expired or becomes useless, what happens?" Azathoth asked, pacing around her.
"They get replaced."
Azathoth pointed into the deep abyss, where the chained titan slumbered. "Look at Luciferio sleeping. He is your replacement."
"Yes, he is," Serena replied mechanically. "But I will not fail you."
"What exactly are you good for?" Azathoth sneered. "Tell me your purpose for existing."
"I only exist to kill, kill, and kill nonstop forever," Serena recited the mantra she had been beaten with for three years.
"And what happens if you don't?"
"Then I become useless, and you will replace me."
"Exactly," Azathoth smiled coldly. "Why are you called a 'bad product'?"
"Because I am weak and useless," Serena said, her blue eyes empty. "I have not killed anyone yet, and my life is just wasting as time goes by."
Azathoth turned to the Star Eater and clapped slowly. "Bravo. Wow. You have done an amazing job. How did you do it? I'd love to know."
"I give her at least one hundred lashes per day, Lord," the Star Eater reported emotionlessly. "She used to cry. Now, even the tears do not come out anymore. She is used to the pain."
"Brilliant," Azathoth laughed. "She gave up her emotions to escape the pain! Brilliant. Just perfect."
Then, Azathoth looked back at Serena, and his smile vanished, replaced by pure, irrational rage.
"It is not enough," Azathoth spat. "No, it is not enough at all! I hate you, Serena. You disgust me! You are so irritating, and you smell like filthy human blood."
"Lord, you do not have a nose, and you have trapped me here for three years," Serena replied blankly. "I am sorry."
"Oh, oh!" Azathoth laughed mockingly. "It hurts you! I love the response! You know you can't insult me back without being tortured, so you are using pure logic. Good. You are worthless garbage. I just want to hurt you. I feel like beating you to death right now."
Azathoth glared at the Star Eater. "Whip her ten thousand times."
"Lord," the Star Eater hesitated slightly. "It is pointless. She is now effectively emotionless. She is your tool. Let us keep her strong for her next victim."
"You trained her well, but you should have destroyed her face completely!" Azathoth roared. He looked back at Serena, rolling his dark hands into massive fists. "Why are you like this?! You are a fucking mistake."
Serena looked confused. She hadn't done anything wrong today. She had taken the beating perfectly.
Azathoth stepped toward her, raising his fist.
Suddenly, a blinding beam of golden light crashed down from the heavens, sending a massive shockwave across the Void. The blast threw Azathoth backward.
"Astragel," Azathoth growled, picking himself up. "What do you want now?"
Astragel's majestic, towering light filled the dark. "Enough. Leave this girl alone. Why are you so petty? What did she even do? Why is your hate so absolute?"
"Look at her," Azathoth sneered. "She is irritating."
Azathoth crossed his arms. "Why are you here? I don't involve myself in your creation. I let you do whatever you want! I let you destroy the evil and reward the good. Your laws only apply to your creation! I made her, and I will do whatever I want with her!"
"I just asked you why you hate her so much," Astragel said, his voice heavy with sorrow.
"Nothing, to be honest," Azathoth shrugged. "Unconditional hate. That is all."
Azathoth paced around the light. "Light does not devour darkness, Astragel. Light exists with darkness. Just the same, Good does not overcome Evil. Good exists with Evil, as one. We are one."
Azathoth pointed a dark finger at the God of Light. "Just go. You can take Serena from me right now. I won't physically stop you. But in return... I will take all of your creation from you. And if, for any reason, we were to fight, it would be an endless, unnecessary war. And why would we fight when we are fundamentally two sides of the same coin? I want evil, and you want good. I won't stop you from doing good, but please... don't stop me from doing evil. She is mine."
"I can't watch to see how she suffers," Astragel whispered, his light flickering. "I can't do it."
"NOW YOU KNOW!" Azathoth suddenly roared, his voice shaking the Void. "Now you know what I feel! I can't watch to see anyone enjoy life! I can't stand love! But I do not come disturbing you!"
Azathoth walked right up to the blinding light. "Your love is not greater than my hate. I endure, Astragel. I watch as a human mother feeds her baby... so innocent, so cute... motherly love. It sickens me! I want the child to suffer! I want the mother to suffer! But I endure your Goodness!"
Azathoth stepped back. "I want to express all my hatred and wrath onto just this one girl... and you always come to stop me. Look, I am sorry. I promise I will never create ever again. Let me just make this girl suffer. Please. Let me torture her."
Astragel looked down at the bleeding ten-year-old girl. Bound by his own absolute laws of autonomy and balance, Astragel slowly vanished. The light faded entirely.
"Yes, Lord," Serena whispered into the dark. "I will love you to torture me, Lord."
"It is all your fault," Azathoth spat at her. "It is all your fault!"
"Sorry."
"Just shut up," Azathoth snapped. He closed his hand, and a sharp, gleaming hunting knife materialized in his palm. He dropped it onto the stone floor in front of her. "I want you to do your first task."
"Yes. I will do it with no fail," Serena said mechanically.
"Of course you won't fail me," Azathoth sneered. "Because even if you have no emotions... you can still feel pain. You amount to nothing in the long run anyway. Luciferio is destined to replace you."
Why is Astragel so useless? Serena thought to herself, staring at the knife. When will I leave this place? Just when?
"I want you to kill Ignis and his family," Azathoth commanded.
Serena froze. Her dead eyes flickered.
"I am sorry," Serena whispered. "But I cannot do that, Lord."
Azathoth's face darkened. "What the fuck did you just say?"
"I cannot do that. I cannot," Serena repeated, her voice shaking for the first time in years. "I am so sorry. I will take more than ten thousand whips for my failure. But I cannot do that."
"Is your purpose not to kill?" Azathoth asked, stepping closer. "You are a tool. That is all."
"I cannot kill them," Serena said, a tear finally breaking free and rolling down her cheek. "They are the memories that keep me smiling every day in this dark place. I cannot."
Azathoth looked at her with pure, unadulterated rage. He looked at the Star Eater in disgust. "You failed too! You cannot even accomplish a mere task! I told you, you were meant to beat her so much that her face became unrecognizable. You were too nice to her!"
"I have to correct you, Lord," Serena defended the Star Eater softly. "She really beat me. She showed me hell. But I cannot kill them. You can do anything to me. I will not kill them."
"Why?!" Azathoth roared.
"Because I am human," Serena said firmly.
"So brave," Azathoth smiled a terrifying, sickening smile. "So brave."
Azathoth stepped right in front of the ten-year-old girl. His shadow enveloped her completely. He leaned down, whispering into her ear with a vile, depraved tone that made her blood run entirely cold.
"Do you still have your virginity, little one?"
Serena's eyes widened in absolute, mind-shattering horror. She looked at the God of Lust and Despair, and she realized physical pain was a mercy compared to what he was threatening to do to her. Her human innocence shattered entirely.
"I will do it," Serena gasped instantly, her voice cracking. "I will do it."
"Done," Azathoth smiled cheerfully. "Get to it."
He teleported away.
The Star Eater stepped forward. "Let's see your first lesson. All my training." She opened a dark portal.
Serena picked up the hunting knife. She took a deep breath, killing the last shred of light in her soul. "I can do it. I will do it."
"I will teleport you right outside their house," the Star Eater said. "Do your job, or he will come for you." The Star Eater vanished.
The First Sin
Serena stepped through the portal, the cold night air of the human world hitting her skin. She was standing outside the O'Connor household.
"I am so sorry," Serena whispered to the wind. "I am truly sorry."
She walked up to the front door. With cold, practiced precision, she pulled a hairpin from her dark hair and picked the lock in seconds.
The door clicked open.
Serena slipped inside, the house completely silent. She sat down on a chair in the dark living room, clutching the knife.
I don't want to, she thought, her hands shaking. I really don't. How can he say something like that? I am just ten. That monster is really disgusting. And I know he can hear me... he exists everywhere.
Tears fell onto the blade. So I am the unfortunate one. I was made to suffer. I am a fucking product, that is all I am good for. Why me? Just why me?
She stood up, looking toward the master bedroom. I always wanted revenge... but he is all-powerful. There is no hope. He made me a monster. Too mature for my age.
She gripped the knife tightly. Fuck you, Astragel. You useless asshole.
Serena walked down the hallway and slowly pushed the bedroom door open. Jack and Clara were sleeping peacefully in the bed.
Serena froze, breathing hard. I can't do it.
She squeezed her eyes shut. The memory of Azathoth's horrific threat flashed in her mind.
No. I must. I must do it.
Serena walked quietly to Clara's side of the bed. She looked down at the woman who had hugged her three years ago. "I am so sorry," Serena whispered. "Forgive me."
Serena lifted the knife high and plunged it directly into Clara's throat.
Blood splattered across the white sheets. Clara gasped violently for air, her eyes snapping wide open in shock and agony. Serena didn't stop. She stabbed, and stabbed, and stabbed, her face going completely blank.
Jack shot up in bed, drenched in his wife's blood. "What the fuck?!"
"Ignis, get the fuck out now!" Jack screamed at the top of his lungs. "Leave the fucking house now and call 911! Call 911 now!"
"Okay, Daddy!" Ignis's terrified voice echoed from down the hall as he ran out of his room.
Jack tackled Serena to the floor. "Why?! Why did you kill her?!" Jack grabbed her wrist, twisting the knife away. He kicked her legs out from under her, pinning her down.
Jack rained heavy punches down on her masked face and stomach. Serena coughed up a mouthful of blood, taking the hits without making a sound.
"You look so little!" Jack yelled, punching her again. "Why did you kill her?!"
Jack reached down and violently ripped the dark mask off the killer's face.
Jack froze. His fist hung in the air.
He stared down at the ten-year-old girl he had adopted three years ago. Her face was covered in scars and his wife's blood.
"It can't be," Jack whispered, his voice trembling, all the fight leaving his body. "It can't be... I have been trying to find you. I even gave the White Germ to the military so they could use it to track you down..."
Jack stared at her in absolute disbelief.
"Sorry," Serena whispered.
She drove the hunting knife directly upward, burying it deep into Jack's throat.
Hot blood splattered across Serena's face. She closed her eyes as the detective collapsed onto her, dead.
"I am just a product," Serena cried softly under his weight. "I am sorry."
She pushed his heavy body off her and stood up, dripping with blood. "I have to kill Ignis too."
The bedroom door slowly creaked open.
Ten-year-old Ignis stood in the doorway. He froze. He looked at his dead mother on the bed. He looked at his dead father on the floor. And then, he looked at the girl he had sworn to protect. Her face was covered in their blood, holding a dripping knife.
"Monster," Ignis whispered, tears flooding his eyes.
Ignis turned and ran for his life.
The Broken Soul
"Azathoth!" Serena shouted, dropping the knife. "Azathoth! I will go to prison! Azathoth!"
The shadow instantly materialized in the bloody bedroom. Azathoth looked at the two corpses on the floor.
"Where is the third?" Azathoth demanded.
"Sorry," Serena stammered. "But he ran out the door. He jumped out of a window or something."
Azathoth's red eyes flared. "When have you ever done something right? Why are you so useless? Why are you like this? Why are you just useless and disgusting?!"
Azathoth raised his hand, pulling a heavy, thick leather whip—one used for cattle—from the void. "Why must I beat you for you to do an ordinary murder?! It's just stabbing them, it's that easy! And you let the boy get away?!"
"Sorry! My fault!" Serena begged, raising her hands. "Please don't whip me! I won't fail next time!"
"No, no, no, no," Azathoth sneered. "You are a fucking sicko. I am going to cover up this crime, and I will take you back to the realm. But for now... you are getting whipped."
"Why me?" Serena sobbed, falling to her knees. "Do it."
Azathoth whipped her brutally for two hours. Serena cried, begged, and screamed, the pain tearing her mind apart.
Suddenly, a blinding golden light filled the blood-soaked room. Astragel descended.
"Why are you here?" Azathoth stopped, panting heavily. "What do you want?"
"Enough," Astragel's voice boomed with absolute, terrifying authority. "You won't be beating her again."
"Why is that?!"
"Because I am here to kill her," Astragel stated.
Azathoth froze. "Then I will kill all of your creation!"
"Enough!" Astragel's light flared, pushing the dark god back. "I can't stand it! You will not physically harm her again!"
"Why is that?!" Azathoth yelled.
"She has a soul," Astragel declared. "She did not ask to be created! You cannot just create her to make her suffer. I will not allow it anymore!"
"You decided that, I did not!" Azathoth argued. "You use your morality to judge mine!"
"We will fight," Astragel threatened, his power gathering like a dying star. "Yes, I am in the wrong by breaking my own laws. But we will fight. Let her go."
Azathoth stared at the blinding light. He looked down at the weeping, broken ten-year-old girl on the floor. He smiled a dark, victorious smile. He leaned in and whispered directly into Astragel's mind.
"Fine. Fine... she is already willing to do anything to avoid my wrath. It is too late. I will never touch her ever again. But you are late."
Astragel looked at Serena with deep sorrow. Knowing her soul was already fractured beyond repair, the God of Light vanished.
"Don't leave me!" Serena screamed at the fading light.
The Star Eater stepped out of a portal. Azathoth walked past his puppet, whispering orders into her ear. "Do not harm her again. She is ready. Just train her to be a killer. But don't harm her in any way."
"Yes, Lord," the Star Eater nodded.
Azathoth screamed in pure, victorious rage, and teleported away, leaving Simon the Assassin to be officially born in the blood of the O'Connors.